Device for turning-in the border of pieces made of flexible sheets

ABSTRACT

Device for turning-in the border of pieces made of flexible sheets comprising : means for supporting the piece in such a way that its marginal portion that is to be turned-in finds itself, at least partially, in a predetermined reference plane ; a lateral guide for positioning the border of the said marginal portion ; means for causing the border of the marginal piece portion which finds itself in the said reference plane to advance longitudinally, against the said lateral positioning guide ; a stop whose position, in relation to the lateral guide, determines the width of the turning-in that is to be formed ; a turning mobile member ensuring the formation of the turning-in in cooperation with the said stop ; control means for the turning-in member ; and means for introducing the turned-in marginal portion of the piece into the entry of the machine for fixing the turning-in.

United States Patent [1 1 Guichard 1 Jan. 8, 1974 DEVICE FOR TURNING-INTHE BORDER 3,482,540 12/1969 Reid et al. 11 2/2 x ()F PIECES M ADE 0FFLEXIBLE SHEETS 3,219,002 11/1965 I Levy 112/214 X Inventor: JeanGuichard, Yerres, France Centre DEtudes Techniques Des Industries DeLHabillement, Paris, France Filed: Y Jan. 6, 1972 App]. No.: 215,787

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 11, 1971 France 7100607 US. Cl112/2, 112/121.26, 112/147, 112/178, 112/214 ,Int. Cl. D05b 27/00, D05b35/02 References Cited v UNITED STATES PATENTS Dobner et a1 112/10Haefele et a1 112/2 Primary Examiner-Werner l-l. SchroederAttorney-Richards & Geier [5 7] ABSTRACT Device for turning-in theborder of pieces made of flexible sheets comprising means for supportingthe piece in such a way that its marginal portion that is to beturned-in finds itself, at least partially, in a predetermined referenceplane a lateral guide for positioning the border of the said marginalportion means for causing the border of the marginal piece portion whichfinds itself in the said reference plane to advance longitudinally,against the said lateral positioning guide a stop whose position, inrelation to the lateral guide, determines the width of the turning-inthat is to be formed a turning mobile member ensuring the formation ofthe turning-in in cooperation with the said stop control means for theturning-in member and means for introducing the turned-in marginalportion of the piece into the entry of the machine for fixing theturning-in.

' 5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEB 974 Sum 1 or 5 PATENTED JAN 8 4sum 3 or 5 rial.

, 1 DEVICE FOR TURNING-IN TI-IE BORDER OF PIECES MADE OF FLEXIBLE SHEETSThe invention relates to the turning-in of the border of pieces made offlexible sheets, for example of woven fabric, or stitch fabric, ornon-woven fabric, made of all fibres, natural, synthetic or artificial,or else made of sheets of plastics material or any other flexible mate-The turning, once formed, is then fixed by any suitable means such assewing, gluing or welding for example.

Until now the formation of the turning-in used to be effected by handjust in front of the fixing means, such as, for example, the stitchingneedle of a sewing machine. Even if one used, to this end, formationguides for the turning-in, such guides were constituted by fixedmechanical members secured to the plate of the sewing machine and at theentry of which the seamstress had to introduce and guide unceasingly,manually, the border of the piece for the turning-in to form and for itsconfiguration to be correct.

Such a manner of proceeding is obviously relatively slow and onerous,especially when it is a question of executing standardized items ofwork.

The aim of the invention is to provide an automatic device in which theturning-in is formed and is fixed automatically, in a regular mannerwithout the seamstress having to intervene, except possibly for puttingthe piece in place in the device and removing it therefrom onceturned-in, in the event of the feeding and the re moval of the piece notthemselves being effected in an automatic manner.

To this end, the tuning-in device in accordance with the invention ischaracterized in that it comprises means for supporting the piece insuch a way that its marginal portion that is to be turned-in findsitself, at least partially, in a predetermined reference plane a lateralguide for positioning the border of the said marginal portion means forcausing the border of the marginal piece portion which finds itself inthe said reference plane to advance longitudinally, against the saidlateral positioning guide a stop whose position, in relation to thelateral guide, determines the width of the turning-in that is to beformed a turning mobile member ensuring the formation of the turning-inin cooperation with the said stop control means for the turning-inmember and means for introducing the turned-in marginal portion of thepiece into the entry of the machine for fixing the turning-in.

With a device such as the one which hasjust been defined, it becomespossible to form and to fix a turningin piece, both a strip piece and atubular piece, in an automatic manner. In accordance with theelaboration of the device, all the operations of a cycle can beabsolutely automatic, including the feeding and the removal of thepieces, or else these latter can be effected by hand, as well aspossibly other very simple operations such as the starting and stoppingof the means for driving the piece in the turning-in device, thedisplacement of its turning-in member, and the starting and stopping ofthe machine for fixing the turning-in, for example be sewing, at eachcycle.

The invention will be better understood by reading the followingdescription and by examining the attached drawings which show, by way ofa nonrestrictive example, one embodiment of a device in accordance withthe invention for turning-in the border of a skirt. In these drawingsFIGS. 1 and 2 are two perspective views of the turning-in deviceobserved from one and the same side, but at different angles FIG. 3shows, on a larger scale, the control system for feeding the piece intothe position where it can be seen in FIG. 1

FIG. 4 shows, in perspective, the device from the other side thereofFIGS. 5 to 8 show four successive phases of formation of the turning-inand FIG. 9 shows the position of the turning-in members alone, at theend of the formation of a turning-in, the piece being assumed to beremoved.

The device shown practically in its entirety in FIGS. 1 and 2 isintended to turn-in the marginal portion 2 (FIG. 8) of the bottom of askirt 1. It is intended to work in combination with a machine for fixingthe turning-in constituted, in this example, by a sewing machine 4having a curved needle and fixed presser-foot 5 against which the piecethat is to be stitched is applied by a slight raising movement of thepiece-carrying tubular member 6 of, the said sewing machine.

The main members of the turning-in device comprise support means for thepiece that is to be turned-in constituted by three rollers, namely afeed roller 11, a supporting roller 12 and a stretching roller 13, alateral guide 14 for positioning the border of the skirt, a turning-inmember 15 (FIG. 4), a stop 16 for determining the width of theturning-in, as well as various control and driving mechanisms andmembers.

The whole of the three rollers 11, 12, 13 is supported by a frame 18(FIG. 4) secured to the frame of the sewing machine 4. On the frame 18there is fixed a double arm 21 in the form ofa widely open V" in thisexample and supporting a similar double arm 22, through the medium ofcross-pieces 23, 24 (FIG. 1). The feed roller 11 and the supportingroller 12 are mounted for rotation on the corresponding ends of the saiddouble arms 21, 22.

The stretching roller 13 is supported by the lower ends of two otherarms 26, 27 whose upper ends can pivot on the axis of the feed roller11. The two arms 26, 27 are connected, in the vicinity of their upperends, by a cross-piece 25 and, in the vicinity of their lower ends, by across-piece 28. A helical compression spring 29, of which one end restson the cross-piece 23 and the other end against the cross-piece 28,urges the two arms 26, 27 to pivot downwards so as to draw thestretching roller 13 away from the two upper rollers 1 l and 12. One cancause the stretching roller 13 to rise again, against the action of thespring 29, with the aid of a pressurized-fluid jack 31 whose cylinder 32is secured to the frame 18, whilst its piston rod 33 is connected to thecross-piece 28.

A bow 34, constituted by a wire, connects the outer ends of the doublearm 22 in order that the skirt be supported more efficiently in thecourse of turning-in.

The arrangement of the two upper rollers 11 and 12 which support thepiece that is to be turned-in is such that the upper plane tangent tothese two rollers is at observed the same time substantially tangent tothe top face of the tubular member 6 which supports the piece that is tobe stitched in the sewing machine 4.

With a view to ensuring the feed of the marginal portion of the skirt inthe turning-in device, the upper feed roller 11 is connected to a motor35 through the medium of a transmission and of a clutch. Thetransmission comprises a pulley 36 secured to the shaft of the motor 35,a belt 37 flexing over the pulley 36, and a pulley 38 (see also FIG. 3)mounted loosely on the shaft of the feed roller 11 and over which thereflexes also the belt 37. The clutch designated as a whole by 39,comprises a conical toothed pinion 41 (FIG. 3) integral with the pulley38, a conical pinion 42 integral with the shaft of the feed roller 11,and a third conical pinion 43 which can enter into engagementsimultaneously with the two pinions 41 and 42 and disengage from theselatter through an axial sliding movement of its shaft mounted inside asocket 45 secured to the frame of the device.

The pinion 43 and the shaft with which it is integral have a tendency,under the action of gravity, to draw away from the two pinions 41 and42, abolishing in this way the connection between these two pinions and,accordingly, the connection between the belt transmission 37 and thefeed roller 11. This disengaging action is urged also by the reaction ofthe teeth of the pinions one on the others.

As a contrast, the engaging effect is obtained by causing the pinion 43to rise against the two pinions 41 and 42, by means of apressurized-fluid jack 46 also secured to the frame of the machine andwhose mobile element repels the shaft of the pinion 43.

The turning-in member 15 is constituted by a fork having two prongs 51,52 (FIG. terminated by rounded portions integral with a handle 53 (seealso for example FIG. 9) which can slide and pivot inside a sleeve 54fixed to the frame of the machine by two tabs 55 (see also FIG. 4). Theprong 52 is longer than the prong 51 and these two prongs are situatedin one and the same plane passing through the axis of the handle 53. Inaddition, the large prong 52 has an extension which comprises a firstportion 57 bent back into the plane of the two prongs 51, 52 so as toform, with the long prong 52, an angle A which is slightly less than 90,and a second portion 58 substantially perpendicular to this prong andterminated by a rounded part 59.

The turning-in member can assume two distinct angular positions. namelythe one shown, for example, in FIG. 5, in which its prongs findthemselves slightly off-set on one side (above in the example), of areference plane determined by the plane tangent externally to thesupporting roller 12 and to the stretching roller 13, and anotherangular position shown, for example, in FIGS. 7 and 9 in which the planeofits prongs is substantially perpendicular to the said reference plane.

The means for actuating this turning-in member are constituted by a jack62 (FIG. 4) whose cylinder is secured to-the frame of the machine andwhose piston rod is integral with the handle 53 of the turning-inmember, the said handle bearing a radial lug 65 movable in a cam groove64 contrived in the sleeve 54, the said cam groove comprising tworectilinear longitudinal portions 66, 67 which extend along twogeneratrices staggered by about 90 and which are connected by an obliqueportion 68.

The stop 16 (FIGS. 1 and 5) is constituted by a plane part of triangulargeneral shape formed, in this example, from a wire suitably bent andsecured to a rod 71 which can slide and pivot in a socket 72 fixed tothe frame of the machine. The plane of this stop 16 is perpendicular tothe rod 71 and the direction of this latter is substantiallyperpendicular to the aforesaid reference plane so that the stop 16 isparallel to the said reference plane and slightly off-set below thislatter. The aim of the pivoting movement of this stop is to make thislatter retractable for reasons which will be better understood later on.For conveniences of putting in place of the tubular piece to beturned-in, the rod 71 which bears the stop 16 carries out, at the sametimes as its pivoting movement, an axial sliding movement which draws itaway from the reference plane, downwards. To this end, the rod 71 bearsa lug (not visible in the drawing) which shifts in an appropriate camgroove contrived in the socket 72, the said groove having at its lowerend, a small recess which retains the lug in the retracted position ofthe stop, for the conveniences of the manipulation, the stop beingsubsequently brought back manually into the active work position. Therod 71 is urged, simultaneously downwardly and angularly, by a torsionspring 74 (FIGS. 5-9).

The free end of the stop 16 serves to determine the width of theturning-in 2 and, to this end, it therefore finds itself at a distancefrom the border 9 (FIG. 5) of the piece 1 that is to be turned-in,corresponding to the width of the turning-in to be formed. The saidborder of the fabric finds itself positioned by a lateral guide 14 fixedon the corresponding end of the upper supporting roller 12, preferablyin an axially adjustable manner on the said roller. One can thereforesay that the end 16A of the stop finds itself at a distance D from thepositioning line of the lateral guide 14 which corresponds to the widthof the turning-in that is to be formed.

In addition, the free end 16A of the stop 16, in the work position,finds itself substantially in the axis of the handle 53 of the fork ofthe turning-in member 15, which can be ascertained, more especially, byexamining FIG. 9.

A holding element, constituted by a finger 77 (FIG. 1 and 4), fixed onan arm 78 secured to the frame of the device, is situated substantiallyagainst the top of the upper plane tangent to the two rollers 11 and 12,so as to apply the turned-in portion 2 of the skirt 1 against the saidskirt, during the advance of this latter. The free end of the finger 77is slightly bent upwards in order not to hinder the introduction of theskirt onto the two upper rollers.

The operation of the turning-in device is as follows The stop 16 (FIG.5) being in its lower retracted position, the turning-in member 15 inits position of rest, that is to say of maximum withdrawal and thestretching roller 13 (FIG. I) raised against the action of the spring 29under the action of its control jack 32, one threads the skirt 1 aboutthe assembly of the three r01- lers 11, 12, 13 by causing its upperportion to pass below the holding finger 77 and above the stop 16 onebrings its border 9 (FIG. 5) against the lateral positioning guide 14carried by the upper supporting roller 12.

The jack 32 is released in order to free the stretching roller 13 whichdescends against the skirt and stretches it. The stop 16 is brought intothe active position, the

motor 35 is started up (if not yet running), and the clutch 39 isengaged in order to ensure the rotation of the feed roller 11 forrunning the skirt on the rollers. Pressure fluid is sent into the jack62, which causes the turning-in member to pass from the position shownin FIG. 5 where it is withdrawn to the maximum, flat, just below thereference plane where the fabric that is to be turned-in is to be foundto an intermediate forward position in which the extension 58 of theturningin member finds itself substantially facing the end 16A of thestop 16, that is to say that the lug 65 (FIG. 4)

' finds itself at the end of the first rectilinear portion 66 of the camgroove 64 which controls the turning-in member. Immediately after, thecontinuance of the movement of the jack 62 brings about the pivoting by90 of the turning-in member through the passage of the lug 65 from theend of the rectilinear portion 66 of the cam groove, through the obliqueportion 68, to the start of the rectilinear portion 67. The long prong52 of the fork rises (FIG. 6) by shifting, in this example, in theopposite direction to the feed direction of the marginal portion 2 ofthe fabric and starts the turning-in action of the said marginal portionwhich passes from the configuration shown in FIG. 6 to that shown inFIG. 71; the fold of the fabric, which is formed over the end 16A of thestop, now finds itself imprisoned between the two prongs of the fork ofthe turning-in member 15.

The jack still continuing to act, the lug 65 now traverses the secondportion 67 of the cam groove 64, which brings about a movement of.translation of the turning-in member, from the position of FIG. 7 tothat of FIG. 8. The turning-in forms progressively as the fabric shiftsover the rollers depending on circumstances, it can be completely formedwhen the skirt has effected one complete revolution on itself, or elsethis formation can necessitate, for example, two or three revolutions ofthe skirt. In FIG. 9 there can be seen the location of the turning-inmember 15 cooperating with the stop 16 at the end of the turning-inoperation, the fabric being assumed to be removed.

As soon as the turning-in is completely'formed all around the skirt, oneproceeds to its fixing and, for that, one disengages the clutch 39 whichcontrols the feed roller 11, whilst one starts up the members of thesewing machine 4. The fabric already being in the turnedin state, inplace on the tubular support 6 of the sewing machine, the stitchingcommences immediately and the fabric is moved by the feed dog of themachine, whilst the rollers 11, 12 and 13 are rotated idle by thefabric. When the skirt is on the point of having effected one completerevolution over the rollers, the first stitch pointrepels the stop 16towards its disengagement position. When the turning-in has beenstitched over the whole of its length, after automatic cutting of thestitching thread, one puts the jack 32 under pressure once more in orderto raise the stretching roller 13 and once can disengage the skirt. Thecycle of formation and of fixing of the turning-in is completelyconcluded and the device is ready for the turning-in of a fresh article.

Of course, the invention is not restricted to the embodiment describedand shown modifications can be made thereto, in accordance with theapplications envisaged, without however, departing from the scope of theinvention.

Thus, for example one could adapt the device to the performance ofturning-in bottoms of trousers, or else along pieces of materials instrips.

I claim:

1. A device for turning-in the border of a flexible sheet for subsequentfixing of the turned border by a machine, said device comprising meanssupporting said sheet in a longitudinal plane, a lateral positioningguide engaging said sheet, a stop having an end portion located adjacentsaid sheet at a distance from its edge corresponding to the width of theturned border, a turning-in member comprising a fork having a handle andtwo prongs, one of said prongs being longer than the other, both prongshaving rounded ends, means actuating said turning-in member relativelyto said sheet and said stop to turn an edge of said sheet by a widthdetermined by the location of said stop, and means moving said sheetrelatively to said guide and toward said machine, wherein said meansactuating the turning-in member comprise means moving it toward saidstop initially in a plane parallel to said plane of the sheet, thenpivoting it by substantially degrees and then moving it in a planeperpendicular to said plane of the sheet to cause said longer prong toturn an edge of said sheet over said top.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said sheet supportingmeans comprise two rollers, and means driving at least one of saidrollers and wherein one of said rollers is situated in front of saidstop and turning-in member relatively to the movement of said sheet, theother one of said rollers being situated behind'said stop and turning-inmember, said sheet supporting means further comprising a third rollerand means movably connecting said two rollers with said third roller forstretching the sheet.

3. A device in accordance, with claim 1, wherein the last-mentionedmeans pivot said turning-in member when its longer prong reaches thestop and terminate its movement when the bottom of its fork reaches thestop. g g

4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the longer prong of saidturning-in member has an inner portion extending substantially parallelto the other prong and an outer portion extending substantiallyperpendicularly to said inner portion.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means actuating theturning-in member comprise a handle carrying said fork and wherein saidmeans actuating the turning-in member comprise a jack having a movingmember connected with said handle, a fixed sleeve, said handle beinglocated in said sleeve and movable therein, said sleeve having a camgroove including two rectilinear portions and an inclined portioninterconnecting said rectilinear portions, said handle having a lugslidable in said cam groove.

1. A device for turning-in the border of a flexible sheet for subsequentfixing of the turned border by a machine, said device comprising meanssupporting said sheet in a longitudinal plane, a lateral positioningguide engaging said sheet, a stop having an end portion located adjacentsaid sheet at a distance from its edge corresponding to the width of theturned border, a turningin member comprising a fork having a handle andtwo prongs, one of said prongs being longer than the other, both prongshaving rounded ends, means actuating said turning-in member relativelyto said sheet and said stop to turn an edge of said sheet by a widthdetermined by the location of said stop, and means moving said sheetrelatively to said guide and toward said machine, wherein said meansactuating the turning-in member comprise means moving it toward saidstop initially in a plane parallel to said plane of the sheet, thenpivoting it by substantially 90 degrees and then moving it in a planeperpendicular to said plane of the sheet to cause said longer prong toturn an edge of said sheet over said top.
 2. A device in accordance withclaim 1, wherein said sheet supporting means comprise two rollers, andmeans driving at least one of said rollers and wherein one of saidrollers is situated in front of said stop and turning-in memberrelatively to the Movement of said sheet, the other one of said rollersbeing situated behind said stop and turning-in member, said sheetsupporting means further comprising a third roller and means movablyconnecting said two rollers with said third roller for stretching thesheet.
 3. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein thelast-mentioned means pivot said turning-in member when its longer prongreaches the stop and terminate its movement when the bottom of its forkreaches the stop.
 4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein thelonger prong of said turning-in member has an inner portion extendingsubstantially parallel to the other prong and an outer portion extendingsubstantially perpendicularly to said inner portion.
 5. A device inaccordance with claim 1, wherein said means actuating the turning-inmember comprise a handle carrying said fork and wherein said meansactuating the turning-in member comprise a jack having a moving memberconnected with said handle, a fixed sleeve, said handle being located insaid sleeve and movable therein, said sleeve having a cam grooveincluding two rectilinear portions and an inclined portioninterconnecting said rectilinear portions, said handle having a lugslidable in said cam groove.